GETTING TOM ON A NEW DEAL SHOULD BE TOP OF VALE’S LIST
GETTING some players on new contracts would be a Christmas present for supporters ..... and in my opinion Tom Pope should be top of that list.
Hopefully other important first teamers such as Luke Hannant and Manny Oyeleke, who are both due to be out of contract in the summer, can be tied to new deals too over the next few weeks.
But getting Popey on a new contract rather than waiting for his existing deal to run out at the end of the season would be a lift for everyone.
The club have said talks are likely...and Tom has said he won’t hold Vale to ransom and just wants a deal to reflect his contribution over the last 18 months.
Put it this way, if we can’t get him on a new deal, there won’t be a shortage of possible takers at the end of the season.
No one player is bigger than the club, but it would be a massive disappointment if we can’t keep Tom this time, and would reflect badly on the club.
He is a local lad and a Vale fan so that is in our favour. Hopefully we can get it done sooner rather than later because Tom is so important to the team, he’s been instrumental to almost every point we’ve got this season.
His ten goals this season mean he’s only two off a century of goals for the Vale. What’s more he is only ten behind Martin Foyle who is our post-war record scorer with 108. You don’t get to score those goals by fluke, that just demonstrates what an important player he has been, and continues to be for us.
Mind you, he seemed to be risking his popularity in the Vale half of the city by attending the players’ Christmas do at the weekend in a Stoke City shirt.
Pictures emerged on social media - but so did an explanation as it turned out this year’s theme was ‘bad shirt night’. So, while some players turned up in all manner of garish and lurid selections, Tom was made to wear a Stoke top with his name on the back by his mate Luke Hannant.
So, there’s the explanation, but even so I’ve never seen him look so uncomfortable.
While we consider contracts for existing players there is also the possibility of new signings arriving in January, including Glenavon’s attacking midfielder Mark Sykes.
News that Vale have agreed a transfer fee for the player is encouraging, but the deal can’t actually be done until the transfer window opens on January 1, so we have to keep our fingers crossed until then and hope the Vale can get their man.
Other clubs have apparently been watching him but, whether this deal comes off or not, it does demonstrate that Neil Aspin and his staff are working hard behind the scenes and trying to improve us.
A point was about fair in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Cheltenham. Watching was a cold and miserable experience, but I am talking about the weather here, not having a go at the team.
We played quite well for a spell, Cristian Montano scored a decent goal and overall I would say it was slightly better than our performance in the 2-2 draw at Morecambe the previous week. It wasn’t any more fun for the fans though, trying to watch the game in what I can only describe as an icy monsoon.
I suppose we should expect it at this time of year, but if last week’s exposure to the elements wasn’t bad enough, this was like Morecambe but without the sea.